reviews

Hard Working Americans (from the album We’re All in This Together)In the blink of an eye, Hard Working Americans have matured from a jam to a band. In three years, HWA have grown from a collective gathering of top shelf jam band musicians (Todd Snider on vocals, Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) on bass, Chad Staehly (Great American Taxi) on keyboards, Neal Casal (Chris Robinson Brotherhood) on guitar and vocals, Duane Trucks on drums, Jesse Aycock on pedal steel and guitar). The band’s self-released album was followed by a live disc and video (The First Waltz), which gathered the debut tracks and put them into a setting where Hard Working Americans felt most comfortable, a live performance that could include the band on stage and the audience that HWA considers as much a part of their show and sound as the guys with the instruments. We’re All in This Together, the latest release from Hard Working Americans, brings the group back to the stage for a recording. The sound of HWA have progressed from a bunch of musicians with a great idea to a musical unit that showcases individual instruments and players as one sound.The songs on We’re All in This Together are drawn from Hard Working Americans studio albums and includes new tracks directly related to the live release. The title track puts Todd Snider at the podium for a manifesto resume that speaks of the band’s beginnings. The track becomes a chant mantra of the title that morphs into “Is This Thing Working?”, which, in turn, brings the audience into the song’s final mix. The two albums recorded in the studio for Hard Working Americans are comprised of an album of cover tunes (Hard Working Americans) and originals (Rest in Chaos). We’re All in This Together bridges the two previous efforts opening with “Mission Accomplished” and includes tracks from the pen of HWA (“Roman Candles”, “Ascending into Madness”, Burn Out Shoes”). Favorites songs from the work of other artists share space on We’re All in This Together with “I Don’t Have a Gun” (Daddy aka Tommy Womack/Will Kimbrough), “Stomp and Holler” (Hayes Carrl), “Another Train” (Will Kimbrough), and a closing tribute to the man that birthed a million guitarslingers, Chuck Berry, with a Hard Working American’s version of “School Days (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)”. Listen and buy the music of Hard Working Americans from AMAZON